


i'd put you in my pocket

by mimimini



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, doyoung is afraid to crush pocket-sized jungwoo by mistake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-08 14:56:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17388500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mimimini/pseuds/mimimini
Summary: Doyoung is very upset when his boyfriend suddenly wakes up pocket-sized.





	i'd put you in my pocket

**Author's Note:**

> after i started writing this, *that* star road episode happened, and since there was an element in it kind of overlapping with this fic i almost considered changing this into a jaewoo, but i’m lazy so i just added a line about jungwoo’s squished cheek.  
> i’m posting this at three in the morning, by the way, hooray

When Doyoung wakes up one Saturday morning with Jungwoo shrunk to the size of his own hand sleeping next to him, his knee-jerk reaction is to start crying.

 

“There, there,” Jungwoo hums, holding up a paper tissue almost as tall as him. He’s struggling a bit and Doyoung feels his eyes fill with tears once again. “Shh, shh, it’s going to be fine, it’s going to be fine,” Jungwoo tries to console him.

Doyoung sniffles, taking the tissue from Jungwoo.

“You have to give me a heads up,” he says with a sob.

“How could I have expected that the first thing you’d do after seeing me would be to start wailing?” Jungwoo scoffs, but there’s no bite to it. Actually, quite the opposite; he can hear the fondness in his voice, the way it becomes even softer around the edges.

“You’re tiny! You’re too tiny! Who wouldn’t cry if their boyfriend suddenly turned into a sort of smurf?” Doyoung whines.

“I’m not blue.”

“That’s all you want to say?”

“It’s not like I was expecting this... I thought it was a common cold,” he said. “But don't worry. Everything will be back to normal soon anyway. We just have a wait for a bit.”

Doyoung blows his nose with the tissue. “I’ll trust you on that.”

 

They spend their day doing next to nothing. Jungwoo shrunk while he was sleeping, so he’s still in his pajamas, shrunk with him. They should go buy their groceries, but with Jungwoo this size, he can’t eat much anyway, so the contents of the fridge are enough to keep them fed until they go to the 24/7 supermarket nearby later in the evening, when there’s less people around and it’s more likely to see magick creatures in the streets.

Going grocery shopping with Jungwoo in his pocket is a whole new experience for Doyoung. Well, of course it is. He feels suddenly wary of every little move, scared that one careless bump against a shelf or another customer could end with Jungwoo getting crushed. The sole thought is enough to make Doyoung feel chills down his spine, so he puts his hand in the pocket where Jungwoo is. He’s carefully arching it around Jungwoo’s tiny body, kind of caging him, but the purpose is using it as a protection. It forces Doyoung to keep his arm angled oddly, and soon it starts to ache a bit, but he’d rather have cramps than… He doesn’t want to think about it, really.

“Everything okay up there, big guy?” Jungwoo paws at Doyoung’s thumb with his minuscule hands, and Doyoung can’t help but giggle at the stupid joke.

He examines the products on the shelf in front of him. “Spaghetti or spaghettini?” he asks, turning his head down to look at his pocket.

Jungwoo doesn't hesitate. “Spaghettini,” he answers, and even points at the spaghettini with his tiny index finger.

Doyoung grabs a box of spaghetti and puts it in their shopping cart.

“That’s mean,” Jungwoo whines.

Doyoung puts a box of spaghettini in as well.

“That’s more like it,” Jungwoo giggles, and plants a tiny kiss on Doyoung’s palm.

It tickles. _Oh_ , Doyoung realises, his hearts squeezing in his chest. He's used to Jungwoo acting cute, but this size, everything he does looks tenfold cute.

 

They’re alone in the toy aisle, roaming aimlessly around the supermarket trying to remember what else they need, when Doyoung has an epiphany.

“Hey,” Doyoung whispers to Jungwoo, suddenly struck by an idea. “Wanna stand on a shelf, for a moment?”

In response, Jungwoo literally hugs Doyoung's hand, draping his legs around some of Doyoung's fingers, and Doyoung pulls him out from his pocket and slowly puts him next to a plushie. (He's learnt his lesson after Jungwoo almost puked in Doyoung’s pocket because of motion sickness, after being shoved there by a still very panicked Doyoung.)

Jungwoo standing next to a huge bear plushie is definitely a view. After he regains his footing, he launches himself on the bear’s leg, climbing on it so he can walk up it and go hug the bear plushie properly.

Doyoung whips his phone out and in a second he’s taking multiple pictures of the scene.

Jungwoo sneezes.

“I think I’m about to turn back to my normal size.” Jungwoo sniffles, climbing down the plushie. Doyoung takes out a paper tissue and rips one angle to give it to Jungwoo, who keeps sneezing.

Jungwoo grabs Doyoung’s finger when he tries to hand him the tissue. “Put me down.” He sounds a bit nervous, and sneezes again to punctuate his sentence.

It’s the first time Doyoung witnesses one of the infamous illnesses that only affect magick-users, and the whole thing is puzzling at best, but he has to admit he was starting to enjoy Jungwoo’s new size. He extends his palm so that Jungwoo can walk on it and sit down, and after that he crouches and lowers him to the ground.

Jungwoo sneezes and sneezes, and Doyoung is starting to feel sorry for him.

“Should we go back to the car?”

Jungwoo shakes his head, still sniffling. “I don’t think we’d make it in time,” he says, eyeing the shopping cart. “There’s--” Jungwoo looks like he’s about to sneeze, and then there’s a _puff!_.

Jungwoo is back to his usual size, splayed on the supermarket’s floor in his pajamas. Doyoung sits down next to him, eyeing him warily. A faerie walks down the aisle, barely sparing a glance at them; Doyoung drags Jungwoo aside so that he doesn’t block the way for her shopping cart.

Jungwoo whines, but he doesn’t do anything. Jungwoo explained it to him this morning, how these colds leave you exhausted, as if you magick was completely drained out of you. Doyoung doesn’t really know how that’s supposed to feel, as he doesn’t have an ounce of magick in him, but seeing Jungwoo barely moving while faceplanted on a not very clean-looking supermarket floor, he supposes he can guess it.

He pats Jungwoo on the head. “Should I give you a piggyback ride?”

“Mmh.”

He takes that as a yes.

The cashier doesn’t look very impressed when Doyoung shows up huffing with Jungwoo on his back. Their eyes, all three of them, glint as they look at Jungwoo, his cheek squished against Doyoung’s head.

“Magick colds are spreading fast this year,” they say, scanning the items.

“Looks like it,” Doyoung comments, trying to readjust Jungwoo so he doesn’t slip from his hold.

 

Going back home is a hassle, but Doyoung doesn’t complain even once, because it’s not Jungwoo’s fault if he’s like this. Getting Jungwoo in and out of the car is hard, because he’s barely awake by then, but the hardest part is bringing him up the stairs to their apartment, since the elevator is broken. Again.

After he has tucked Jungwoo into bed, he goes back to retrieve their shopping bags from the car. By the time Doyoung has finished putting the groceries in the fridge and is able to slip into bed, he feels cold and his back hurts terribly, with little hope that the situation will improve by tomorrow.

Jungwoo mumbles something in his sleep, and Doyoung drags himself closer, so he can wrap an arm around Jungwoo, but then he thinks better of it, in case Jungwoo shrinks again overnight and ends up crushed under Doyoung’s arm. It’s a horrible thought to come up with before sleeping, so he ends up lying awake in bed, staring intensely at Jungwoo in the dim light through the window, as if it could prevent his cold from worsening again.

Jungwoo doesn’t seem like he’s about to shrink again, though, and after a hour Doyoung drifts off to sleep.

 

He wakes up late in the morning. His back hurts just as expected, but Jungwoo is now cuddling him, Doyoung’s back to his chest, an arm wrapped around him, which means he got his strength back while Doyoung was asleep.

“Jungwoo?” he calls softly.

“Hey,” Jungwoo murmurs in response. “Thank you for yesterday. I don’t even remember coming back here.” He plants a kiss behind Doyoung’s ear.

“No problem,” Doyoung hums. “Do you feel better today?”

“No shrinking today, I think.”

“That’s good.”

Doyoung sneezes.

“Well. You won’t shrink, at least,” Jungwoo says with a sigh.

**Author's Note:**

> i’m not completely satisfied with how this turned out, but oh well. mutual who unknowingly fuels my dowoo feels, i wish i was a better and more prolific writer so i could fulfil your dowoo fic needs :(  
> you can talk to me on [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/mimimini) if you want!


End file.
